medicine-wheel

narrative-cluster — RISE Specification

The Narrative Cluster Processor as a reusable method — turn witnessed perceptual events / rushes into thematic clusters, narrative beats, and a Film Edit Brief (EDL markers) an editor can act on.

Version: 0.1.0 (draft) Package: @medicine-wheel/narrative-cluster Document ID: rispec-narrative-cluster-v1 Last Updated: 2026-06-21

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Desired Outcome

A creator transforms raw witnessed material into editable structure:

• Perceptual events / rushes are grouped into cinematic clusters: shot-sequence, sound-environment, relational-moment.
• Each cluster maps to a Medicine Wheel direction and becomes a NarrativeBeat.
• A Film Edit Brief is generated — EDL-style markers with timecodes and narrative annotations, compatible with a Premiere/Resolve import workflow.

Creative Intent

What this enables: The “Narrative Cluster Processor” named in episode 066 becomes a real method bridging perception and editing. It instantiates narrative cognition (discrete events → coherent story) while staying inside the relational ontology (clusters carry direction; beats carry relations_honored).

Structural Tension: Between scattered rushes (no spine) and an editable narrative (clusters → beats → edit brief). Resolved by template-driven clustering plus a deterministic brief generator.

Types (@medicine-wheel/narrative-cluster)

type ClusterKind = 'shot-sequence' | 'sound-environment' | 'relational-moment';

interface ClusterableEvent { type: string; text: string; index: number; source?: string; }

interface NarrativeCluster {
  id: string;
  kind: ClusterKind;
  theme: string;
  direction: DirectionName;   // shot→east, sound→south, relational→west
  events: ClusterableEvent[];
}

interface EditMarker {
  index: number; clusterId: string; kind: ClusterKind;
  timecode: string;           // HH:MM:SS:FF synthesized from order
  label: string;              // narrative annotation
  source: string;
}

interface EditBrief {
  productionId: string; title: string;
  markers: EditMarker[];
  edl: string;                // CMX3600-style text block
  generatedAt: string;
}

API

• clusterEvents(events): NarrativeCluster[] — group by cinematic template; derive a theme + direction per cluster.
• clustersToBeats(clusters): NarrativeBeat[] — one NarrativeBeat per cluster, direction-aligned, with relations_honored.
• generateEditBrief(clusters, opts): EditBrief — produce ordered markers + an EDL text block.

Dependencies

• @medicine-wheel/ontology-core (NarrativeBeat, DirectionName)
• (Composition target) @medicine-wheel/prompt-decomposition + @medicine-wheel/narrative-engine — arc validation and ontology-enriched theming in a later iteration. Loose-coupled now via ClusterableEvent.

Advancing Patterns

• Reusable method — input is a minimal ClusterableEvent, so any source (transcript, rushes, notes) flows through.
• Direction-aligned — clusters and beats stay inside the four-directions ontology.
• Deterministic brief — same clusters yield the same EDL, so the slice is testable.

Quality Criteria

• ✅ Real transcript yields ≥2 cluster kinds and a non-empty edit brief.
• ✅ Beats carry valid directions and survive narrative-engine arc checks.
• ✅ Renaud thread: clusters preserve relational-moments as first-class.

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